The instant invention relates to a device to open fiber bales with a plucking device capable of travelling in rails alongside a row of bales and of being lowered upon the bales, as well as with a suction channel.
The removing of fiber bales set up in a row by means of a plucking device travelling alongside a rail track and being lowered for that purpose to the surface of the bales is known (See German Pat. Nos. DE-PS 3,334,222 and DE-PS 3.504.590). Extraction rollers covered by a suction hood are used as plucking devices, the rollers detaching fiber material from the bales with their teeth or needles and throwing it toward the suction hood where it is seized by a suction air stream and is conveyed through a pipe duct into a suction channel for further removal. It is, however, impossible with this device to prevent individual blocks, bunches of fibers and border strips of the fiber bales from falling to the floor next to the bale instead of entering the suction air stream. This can result in blockage of the rails and interferes with the moving mechanism.